Let’s help
VETERANS HAMPER APPEAL
THE Sunday People launches its Christmas Heroes Appeal today to give our military veterans like Dave Hunter a reason to smile.
The former lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, was penniless the last time Christmas came around.
He faced the stress and shame of not being able to afford presents and goodies for his daughter – until The Veterans Charity stepped in.
He received a food delivery with everything he needed to treat 12-year-old Millie to Christmas dinner as well as enough fresh, frozen and tinned food to see them into the new year.
The special Christmas hamper also included Christmas crackers, a 5ft tree with decorations and a gift card so Dave, 43, could buy presents for his daughter.
He said: “Ex soldiers like to think they are really tough but I was so relieved and so thankful, I cried like a baby when the hamper was delivered.”
Stressed
But there are thousands more former servicemen and women like Dave facing hardship in the UK today – and The Veterans Charity only has the funds to help a limited number.
So this year we are asking our generous readers to help the charity reach those who are struggling to survive on benefits and minimum pensions despite putting their lives on the line for our country.
Dave, who suffers night terrors and relies on twice daily doses of morphine to cope with debilitating pain from injuries during his 12-year Army career. said: “Myself and my ex-wife take it in turns to have Millie for Christmas and last year was my turn.
“The most I was going to be able to do for her was heat up a frozen pizza. It wasn’t fair on her and I was going to have to let her go to her mum’s.
“I was so upset and stressed about it, I was having panic attacks. There was nothing in the fridge, nothing in t he cupboards and nothing in the bank.” But then Dave received a call f rom Danny Greeno of The Veterans Charity to ask how he was coping.
He said: “Danny had helped me before. He’d sent me food parcels and bought things to help me l i ke a dishwasher because even s mall tasks like washing the dishes cause me pain. He asked me if I was sorted for Christmas and I admitted to him how bad things were. I was in a complete mess.
“Being able to have Millie for Christmas and seeing the look on her face when she saw all the decorations and the food meant the absolute world to me.”
Dave, who lives near Glasgow, served with the Royal Corps of Signals between 1991 and 2003, including a stint in Bosnia in 1996, just after the end of the war there.
He is still unable to talk about his experiences in Bosnia but says he tore both his Achilles tendons while running away from a dangerous situation. After being operated on at his regiment’s base in Germany, he developed blood poisoning and nearly lost a leg.
Then in 2001 he dislocated his left knee during a combat fitness test ahead of the Royal Signals going to Afghanistan.
He never recovered from the injury, which left him with degenerative nerve damage – and Dave quit the Army two years later.
Five years ago he was diagnosed with PTSD which has blighted his life since a 1991 training accident at Catterick